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A Warriors Naming Guide by Sparrowsong
Brief Introduction and Disclaimer I'm surprised someone doesn't already have a warriors naming guide here. I used to know a great one called Ebonycrow, but it has sadly been taken down and I am making this in honor of that one. DISCLAIMER: I mean no offense to anyone. I'm not trying to insult/attack anyone. You can very well keep your Angrymoon, Emeraldpetal, and Butterflyheart. And there is no law against 'Glasswater' or 'Rabbithawk.' But this is a guide for people who want traditional names that (at least in my opinion) make sense. Chapter One: What Not To Name Your Cat In the first Warriors series, the names all clearly made sense. Silverstream is a pretty, femine silver tabby who can run fast. Fireheart is a kind cat with dark ginger fur. You know... But now, ridiculous names have begun to pop up in role play, fanfiction, and even the canon series. Such names include... Redflight - You can see that the person wants a name that represents a ginger cat who can run fast, but does the color red fly? Honeyfern - What is a 'honey fern?' Does a plant with honey on it represent a kind, light brown tabby she-cat? What would have been wrong with Honeyheart? Angelsong - Cats do not know what angels are, nor does this name represent any whole thing. Goldenflower represents a kind, motherly she-cat with golden fur. Angelsong only represents a singing angel. Birchfall - Only represents a falling birch, not the cat himself at all. Whitewing - Represents a wing that is white in color, again nothing as a whole. Whitefrost, on the other hand, would have been a good name to represent her white fur and green eyes. Freezingpaw - An RP cat named for the way s/he shivered. What if the shivering meant that the kit was sick? Whipcream - Cats do not know what whipped cream is, nor do they know what a whip is. What kind of queen would name their kit after a Twoleg weapon? Violinkit - Another thing that the cats obviously should not know about. Edwardstar - Makes no sense at all. This cat was an RP character created simply to be the mate of another character, Bellatail. Those of you who know the Twilight books should know why the cats were named with 'Edward' and 'Bella.' Magicpaw - Do cats know what magic is? Can you tell from Magicpaw's name if they are a pale tabby she-cat, a black-and-white tom, or a tortie? Featherstone - If you, a Twoleg, do not know what a 'feather stone' is, why should a feral cat know what a 'feather stone' is? Scarletsky - Clan cats are not sophisticated or fancy. If a queen chooses to name her ginger kit for their fur color, she does NOT name them Scarletkit, Bloodkit, or Rubykit. There are so many words one could use that would be so much better. Redkit, for starters. Gingerkit, Russetkit, Cherrykit, Flamekit, Brightkit, Lilykit...the list goes on. And on. And on. Sirenpaw - Cats do not read Greek mythology and sirens do not exist, thus they should not know what a siren is. 'Siren' describes neither the cat's apperance nor their personality. Papayacall - Clan cats do not know what a papaya is, nor do papayas 'call' or sing. Personface - A preschooler could come up with a better name. It's supposed to be a joke, yes, but it's so bad that it's not even funny. Rockstar - Ha, ha, ha. Very funny, eight-year-old troll with too much time on your hands. Brokenheart - Graystripe broke the warrior code on a regular basis, but nobody would want to be known for that. Why should Brokenheart be named for a sad thing that happened to them if Graystripe was not named 'Graywarriorcodebreaker?' Fangkit - All cats have fangs. Fangkit's name does not set him apart from any other cat. Greenflower - Ah, one of my least favorite things - a cat named for their eye color. Kits are named at birth, when they do not have their eyes open. A queen cannot know what color her progeny's eyes would be. And even if both the parents have green eyes, what if the grandfather had blue eyes? Greenkit could get blue eyes from him, and her name would not have the very, very little meaning it does. I can see why a lot of people might name their cat Spiritshadow, Wolfsong, Moonfire, or Flutedance - because they sound 'cool,' 'edgy,' or 'pretty.' But they don't really make much sense. Spiritshadow - The Erins have said that the reason they don't use words like 'cross,' 'soul,' and 'angel' is because they have special significance in certain religions that feral cats would not know about. Besides, this name does not represent a cat - it represents a spirit and a shadow. Wolfsong - Wolves do not sing, nor do they live in the British Isles where the Warriors books are supposed to be set. That's not to say you can't use 'wolf' in a name, it just means that if you want a Wolftail or Wolfdapple you will have to make your story set in a forest where the cats would know about wolves. It's like how Monkeyfur would not be acceptable in the conventional British Isles setting, but it would be if your story was set in a tropical rainforest where the cats would know what a monkey is. But how, then, do they know about lions, tigers, and leopards? It's because of LionClan, TigerClan, and LeopardClan. Finally, this name only represents a wolf and a song. Wow, that's a long explanation... Moonfire - Ever notice that the Erins don't use 'moon,' 'eclipse,' 'sun,' or 'crescent?' It's because those things are considered sacred to the cats. The same goes for names beginning with 'star' - not only is that an insult to StarClan, what would the cat be named if they became leader? Besides, Moonfire's name only represents a moon and a fire. 'Fire' is not really an acceptable suffix, actually. Unless your Clan is like SkyClan. I'll talk more about SkyClan a little later. Flutedance - Yes, I know you like the sound of it. But let me say something - FERAL CATS DO NOT KNOW WHAT A FLUTE IS. FERAL CATS DO NOT NOT NOT KNOW WHAT A DANCE IS. A flute and a dance do not represent a cat, either. Wildflower - A very overused, cliched name. Cats are named at birth, as I already explained. A kit who has just been born has no personality yet. They cannot walk or be 'wild.' This means that Runningwind is not an acceptable name. What if Runningwind was in an accident and couldn't run anymore? Maybe Frostfur hoped that Cinderpelt might be a fast runner, but by no means would she have named her Fastkit because...well, she is by no means fast. Diamondwhisker - Cats do not know what diamonds are. The same goes for other precious stones. As such, Sapphirepool is not acceptable, nor is Spottedpearl or Topazbird. Such gems are not found in the British Isles. Even if they were, what are the odds that the cats would seriously unearth them? Amberdream - 'Amber' is a good prefix to represent yellowish-brown fur. The only thing that's wrong with this name is the suffix, 'dream.' The Erins say they don't use words like 'dream,' 'hope,' or 'desire' because dreams have special importance to the cats. To single out one cat and give them the very special name of '-dream' wouldn't be fair to all the ordinary warriors with proper names (Mouseheart, Cloudfur, Littletail, etc.). As such a 'Dreampaw' is not acceptable and neither is 'Morningwish,' 'Hopingstar,' or 'DreamingClan.' Even if they have a strong connection to StarClan and thus special dreams, they should not be named with such words. Oceanshine - The prefix is unacceptable cats do not know what an ocean/sea is, they call it the 'Sun-Drowned Place.' The same rule applies for 'comet,' 'summer,' or 'winter.' Second, the suffix. It's one of those suffixes like '-tiger' or '-hope' that is never acceptable. I'm sick of names like Gentleheart, Darkclaw, and Frozenheart that are much too obvious. Gentleheart is obviously good and a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu. Darkclaw and Frozenheart are obviously villains. SkyClan was known for naming their cats absurd names. You will never find an Echosong, Sharpclaw, or Petalnose in ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, or even ShadowClan. Speaking of Clans... Chapter Two: Naming Your Clan Naming your Clan is so extremely important. It's a good idea, although not nessecary, to name your Clan before you name any of the cats. And before you name your Clan, you have to come up with the personality of the cats in the Clan. If they're fast runners, don't call them RunningClan. If they're strong, you shouldn't call them StrongClan. Let's take this Clan with no name. For now it will be ?Clan. ?Clan is cunning, fearless, and aggressive. They live near a large maple tree. While ?Clanners can be quite selfish, but follow the warrior code at any cost. We could use... StoneClan StormClan CrowClan MapleClan Ooh, this is a bit tricky. Those names all seem to be equally good. But for some reason I'm leaning towards the last two options, so let's narrow it down to one of those. CrowClan could make a lot of sense. Crows do have those sort of traits. But wait just a minute. MapleClan makes the most sense. They are known for the maple tree, among other things. Besides, trees are strong and ?Clan is strong. Perfect! MapleClan is an excellent name for this Clan! Here are two Clan names I use: BrookClan - Lives in an area with many brooks, streams, and rivers. They are generally calm and peaceful, possibly because they have the forest to themselves - there are no other Clans to worry about. Their main prey source is fish. Yes, they are hostile to intruders, but they try to keep it a friendly rivalry. They generally give their cats names that make sense (Silverstripe is a pale grey tom with white paws and a dark stripe on his tail), but some of them are a bit odd. Some of those strange names include Mossear, Stormwing, and Rosestream. HillClan - Lives on top of a hill. They are fast runners, so they like to hunt quick prey like rabbits. Due to the lack of trees in their area, they don't have much shelter and feel vulnerable, thus they can be hostile. Their camp is easy to invade as well, further endangering them. Quite often, HillClanners have long legs and grow tall. Hills are tall, so you might say the name has a bit of a double meaning. You could also use MeadowClan if your Clan lives in a meadow. Or GrassClan if their territory has tall grass in it. Or MudClan if they live in a muddy swamp. Even SandClan could work if they live on a beach. It's disrepectful to use the names of the Clans in names of your Cats. Goldenberry is completely acceptable in ShadowClan, ThunderClan, RiverClan,or WindClan. But if Goldenberry's creator is on an RP site with a clan called GoldenClan then Goldenberry's name would be an insult to them. It only seems to apply to prefixes, though. i.e. Hawkfoot is an insult to HawkClan but Littlehawk is not. In the next chapter, I'll try to get back to names for the cats themselves. Chapter Three: List of Acceptable Prefixes Amber - Represents yellowish-brown. Example: Amberleg. Auburn - Represents ginger. Example: Auburnclaw. Black - Represents black. Example: Blackflower. Blue - Represents blue-grey. Example: Bluefeather. Brown - Represents brown. Example: Brownstorm. Golden - Represents golden brown or pale ginger. Example: Goldenmist. More coming soon... Category:Guide